Control of carrier aggregation

Abstract

A method and an apparatus are described by which carrier aggregation in a radio network is controlled on the basis of a group of cells which can be aggregated. For example, carrier aggregation group information regarding the group of cells which can be aggregated can be established, transmitted, read and the like, access control policy regarding the group of cells in the radio network which can be aggregated can be set. Moreover, a method and an apparatus is provided by which carrier aggregation in a radio network is controlled, wherein an access control policy regarding a part of the radio network is set.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 controlling carrier aggregation in a radio network on the basis of a group of cells which can be aggregated; 
 setting access control policy for the group of cells in the radio network which can be aggregated, wherein the access control policy is to indicate, in case of insufficient resources:
 access of a user equipment to the group of cells is denied, or 
 access of the user equipment to the group of cells is admitted and resources for existing services are reduced; 
 
 establishing, by a core network element of the radio network, carrier aggregation group information comprising the group of cells which can be aggregated; and 
 transmitting, from the core network element to a base station of the radio network, at least the carrier aggregation group information and the access control policy. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting suitable cells belonging to a carrier aggregation group to perform carrier aggregation for a user equipment based on the carrier aggregation group information. 
 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 selecting suitable cells belonging to a carrier aggregation group to be involved in a handover of a user equipment based on the carrier aggregation group information. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the carrier aggregation group information is included in at least one of: an information message of a predefined information message type, and a dedicated information object class modeling the carrier aggregation group. 
     
     
       5. A non-transitory computer readable memory comprising computer program instruction which when executed by a device causes the device to perform the method according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the core network element comprises at least one of: a network management system, an element management system, and a separate self-organizing server, and wherein transmitting the carrier aggregation information comprises:
 transmitting the carrier aggregation information and the access control policy from at least one of: the network management system, the element management system, and the separate self-organizing server. 
 
     
     
       7. An apparatus comprising
 at least one memory comprising program code, 
 at least one processor, 
 the at least one memory and the program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to:
 provide connection to at least one of a radio network and a network control element; 
 control carrier aggregation in a radio network on the basis of a group of cells which can be aggregated; 
 set access control policy for the group of cells in the radio network which can be aggregated, wherein the access control policy is to indicate, in case of insufficient resources:
 access of a user equipment the group of cells is denied, or 
 access of the user equipment to the group of cells is admitted and resources for existing services are reduced; 
 
 establish, by a core network element of the radio network, carrier aggregation group information comprising at least the group of cells which can be aggregated; and 
 transmit, from the core network element to a base station, at least the carrier aggregation information and the access control policy. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein
 the processor is configured to exchange the carrier aggregation group information with another base station, element management system or network management system. 
 
     
     
       9. The apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the at least one memory and the program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to:
 select suitable cells belonging to a carrier aggregation group to perform carrier aggregation for a user equipment based on the carrier aggregation group information; and 
 select suitable cells belonging to a carrier aggregation group to be involved in a handover of a user equipment based on carrier aggregation group information. 
 
     
     
       10. The apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein at least one of:
 the carrier aggregation group information is included in an information message of a predefined information message type; 
 the access control policy is included as one or more attributes in the information message of the predefined information message type; and 
 the carrier aggregation group information is included as one or more attributes in the information message of the predefined information message type. 
 
     
     
       11. The apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein at least one of:
 the carrier aggregation group information is included in a dedicated information object class modeling the carrier aggregation group; 
 the carrier aggregation group information is included as one or more attributes of the predefined information object class; and 
 the access policy information is included as one or more attributes of the predefined information object class or a dedicated information object class modeling the carrier aggregation group. 
 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the core network element comprises at least one of: a network management system, an element management system, and a separate self-organizing server, and wherein transmission of the carrier aggregation information comprises:
 transmission of the carrier aggregation information and the access control policy from at least one of: the network management system, the element management system, and the separate self-organizing server. 
 
     
     
       13. An apparatus comprising:
 at least one memory comprising program code, 
 at least one processor, 
 the at least one memory and the program code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
 receive, in a base station from a core network element, a-carrier aggregation group information comprising at least a group of cells which can be aggregated and an access control policy to indicate, in case of insufficient resources:
 access of a user equipment to the group of cells is denied, or 
 access of the user equipment to the group of cells is admitted and resources for existing services are reduced; and 
 
 control carrier aggregation in a radio network based at least on the carrier aggregation group information. 
 
 
     
     
       14. The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one memory and the program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to:
 perform performance measurements on carrier aggregation group level; and 
 determine whether to perform carrier aggregation for a user equipment using the group of cells which can be aggregated based at least partially upon the performance measurements. 
 
     
     
       15. The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the core network element comprises at least one of: a network management system, an element management system, and a separate self-organizing server.